Letter from the Editors

Published on February 18, 2025

Amy K. Noggle, Ph.D., Towson University, Department of Special Education, College of Education, Maryland, USA
Patricia Rice Doran, Ed.D., Towson University, Department of Special Education, College of Education, Maryland, USA
Solange Lopes-Murphy, Ph.D., Department of Special Education, Language and Literacy, The College of New Jersey, New Jersey, USA

Greetings TESOL community! We hope that this message finds you well. For those of you who were able to attend TESOL ‘24 in Tampa last year, we hope that you were able to meaningfully reflect on current practice and pedagogy, connect with colleagues, and recharge as we all head into a new school year. Our mission is to offer you a few insightful articles that will positively inform your day-to-day interactions with ML’s who may also present with disabilities. As such, we are delighted to bring you this Fall 2024 edition of ‘Difference and Disability Matters,’ with the next edition planned for Spring 2025. We believe that the information presented herein reflects a mission to concertedly ‘drill down’ and facilitate a true understanding of how we can serve students with a unique intersection of needs.

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Writing Effective Individual Education Plan (IEP) Goals for Multilingual Learners with Disabilities

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Francisa F. Hernandez-Herbert, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USALynda Espinoza Idle, M.Ed., Colorado, TESOL, Colorado, USADetermination for special education eligibility can be challenging, and for MLs it is a daunting task. Fortunately, there are steps educators and administrators can take to ensure ML referrals to special education are appropriate. Our article published in the TESO

Letter from the Chair

February 18, 2025
Vanessa Virgiel, Chair, SSDISGreetings, SSDIS Community!It is a pleasure to welcome you and thank you for your support. Our once “niche” interest section continues to burgeon, and this past year we’ve had the privilege of connecting with educators from a variety of contexts who are keen to support all learners. At the 2024 TESOL Convention, we connected with many of you during our intersection pan